Menopause at Work: Swedish Study Reveals What Helps and What Hurts

Menopause is not a disease, yet for millions of working women it can feel like one. Hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, mood swings, concentration difficulties and effects on short-term memory can collide with demanding jobs, unclear roles and unsympathetic managers. A new qualitative interview study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy now offers one of the first Swedish portraits of how the work environment itself can either cushion or amplify this transition. The findings suggest that what surrounds a woman at work—her manager, her colleagues, the lighting, the toilets, the culture—may matter as much as the symptoms themselves.

The research team, led by Suzanne Johanson Sturesson of the University of Gothenburg, set out to investigate what women in menopause experience as supporting and hindering factors in their work environment. The motivation is grounded in stark statistics. At the end of 2024, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency reported 201,462 ongoing cases of sickness benefit, and women constituted 65 percent of them. Within that cohort, 28 percent were aged between 50 and 59, roughly the age at which menopause typically arrives in western countries, where the average age of the transition is 50 to 51 years. The predominant reasons for sick leave were psychiatric diagnoses, including fatigue syndrome and depression, while musculoskeletal diagnoses were notably more prevalent among those aged 50 to 59.

Although women in menopause can end up on sick leave because of severe symptoms, reliable statistics on how many absences are actually driven by menopause are difficult to obtain, since the same symptoms can stem from other causes. What is well established is the dose-response relationship: research shows a negative correlation between the severity of menopausal symptoms and work ability, meaning that as symptoms intensify, the capacity to work declines and the risk of sick leave rises. Studies have also found that up to one in four women report severe menopausal symptoms, and that symptoms negatively influence women’s self-rated productivity. Some women respond by temporarily reducing their working hours, even while worrying about the consequences for their careers. Others practice presenteeism—working despite diminished capacity—which carries substantial risks, including long-term impairments in work ability.

To capture the lived experience behind these numbers, the researchers used a qualitative design with an inductive approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with six women aged between 46 and 58 who were active in the Swedish labour market with employment rates of at least 50 percent and who reported at least one self-perceived symptom linked to menopause. Participants were recruited through targeted sampling from a closed Facebook forum called Stark genom klimakteriet—Strong through menopause—with roughly 13,000 members. Four of the six women were undergoing menopausal hormone therapy at the time. Five worked full-time and one part-time, and their workplaces spanned occupational health, primary health care, industry, state-level academic activities and municipal administration. Five interviews took place digitally and one physically, each lasting between 39 and 79 minutes, and the transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis according to Graneheim and Lundman.

The analysis yielded two main categories: the necessity for enhanced awareness and education regarding menopause, and adaptations and recovery opportunities in the work environment. The first category describes how a general lack of knowledge about menopause ripples through organisations, social spaces and individuals. Several informants initially lacked knowledge about menopause altogether, which led to unrecognised symptoms and increased suffering, including sick leave due to exhaustion and depression. Only through personal insight and their own research did they come to understand that their symptoms were menopause-related, and only after making changes or starting hormone therapy were they able to resume working. One informant described the anxiety plainly: feeling insecure about both her body and her mind created stress when she feared she might not be able to cope with her job.

The study also documented a heavy stigma. Several informants felt that menopause was treated as something that should simply pass by unmentioned, and they found it uncomfortable and embarrassing to raise the topic with human resources or their managers. Being treated with understanding, it turned out, was largely a matter of chance—hinging on whether managers happened to have personal experience of menopause. One participant described the relief of having a boss in the same situation, which removed stress and pressure. Where workplaces lacked forums for disseminating information about health issues, women were forced to advocate for changes themselves, a burden that was particularly heavy during periods of reduced energy. Not being believed by a manager when describing symptoms left informants feeling diminished.

The second main category mapped the concrete adjustments that made work sustainable. Flexibility emerged as central: the ability to take a break when needed, visit the toilet, regulate emotions, interrupt work for shorter rests, or work at times of day when they felt alert. Organisations that failed to offer this flexibility were perceived as obstacles. The physical environment cut both ways. Too few toilets, dark spaces, workplaces that increased sedentary time, poor ergonomics and poor seating were hindrances, while bright light, height-adjustable desks, exercise bikes and standing mats supported the increased need to move. Cognitive symptoms—mental fatigue and difficulty focusing—made stimulus-heavy open offices punishing. One informant recounted how, with a brain exhausted by concentration difficulties, she could never have coped with twenty people talking, drawers banging and phones ringing all at once; a separate or closed room was perceived as a decisive support.

Recovery opportunities proved equally important. Mindfulness and short breaks in peace and quiet helped informants balance mood during stress attacks and worrying, but the lack of a physical place for such recovery was described as an obstacle. Working from home was repeatedly praised as a valuable adjustment: it made necessary breaks easier, increased sleep by removing commutes, and, as one informant noted, made work more efficient. The social environment, meanwhile, functioned as a powerful buffer. Safe relationships with close colleagues allowed women to be open about how they felt, which created security, improved well-being and even increased performance. One informant described how a colleague’s openness about her own menopausal symptoms made it easier for everyone in the group to admit being exhausted after a bad night. Conversely, the absence of an open atmosphere left women feeling alone, which made them feel worse than their symptoms alone warranted.

The authors interpret these findings through the Model of Human Occupation, which explains how individuals generate and modify actions through interactions with their social, institutional and physical environments, and through the concept of occupational adaptation—modifying one’s performance or environment when abilities change. Resilience, in this framing, rests on three components: knowledge of the change, skills to solve the problems that arise, and surrounding support. All three appeared in the data. The researchers also frame the results in terms of menopausal health literacy, arguing that the suffering described by participants could have been reduced had they received support to understand their condition earlier. Because health literacy depends on context, the authors argue it is a societal issue—not merely an individual or healthcare concern but essential in the work environment as well.

The study’s conclusions carry practical weight for employers. Individual adaptation is crucial because the impact of the work environment is personalised, but awareness and knowledge about menopause, together with an open and flexible organisational culture, facilitate the necessary adjustments. Recognising the social environment as a supportive factor is essential, and occupational therapy interventions that consider the individual in relation to the workplace can contribute to sustainable change. The authors emphasise a preventive approach: since menopause is a transition rather than an illness, workplace adjustments should aim to stop symptoms from developing into ill-health and future sick leave. The researchers acknowledge limitations, including the small sample of six informants, recruitment through a forum whose members may have had more severe symptoms, and a sample dominated by office-based work, which limits transferability. They call for further research into menopausal women’s experiences in welfare and service professions, and into the incentives and obstacles employers face in implementing the changes women say they need. With women making up nearly two-thirds of Sweden’s ongoing sickness cases, the message from this study is difficult to ignore: the work environment is not a backdrop to menopause—it is an active force in determining whether women in midlife stay well and stay working.

Subject of Research: The impact of the work environment on work ability in women experiencing menopause

Article Title: Women’s experience of the impact of work environment during menopause – A qualitative interview study

Article References: Johanson Sturesson, S., Löfgren Bergérus, M., Arvidsson, L., & Andersson, C. (2025). Women’s experience of the impact of work environment during menopause – A qualitative interview study. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 32(1), Article 2519241. https://doi.org/10.1080/11038128.2025.2519241

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1080/11038128.2025.2519241

Keywords: menopause, work environment, occupational health, women's health, qualitative research, work ability, workplace adaptation, occupational therapy, health literacy, stigma, organisational culture, Sweden